RAMBOUILLET, CATHERINE, Marquise de, one of the most accomplished and illus trious women of the 17th c., was b. at Rome, of Italian parents, in 1583, and received • refined education under the superintendence of her mother, the marchese di Pisani. At the age of 12 she was betrothed to a French nobleman, Charles d'Angennes, son of the marquis de Rambonillet, who succeeded to the family estates and title on the death of his father in 1611. When the youthful marquise first appeared in the assemblies at the Louvre, she was shocked by the gross corruption of morals and manners that prevailed among the mob of courtiers, and almost immediately conceived the idea of forming a select circle for herself, which should meet at her own house—the famous betel de Rambouillet. Mnie. de. Rambouillet was admirably fitted for presiding at the reunions which have made her name famous in the literary history of France. Handsome and gracious, but free from coquetry and all personal pretensions, her affability, generosity, and steadfast attachment to her friends made her an object almost of worship to those who enjoyed her society. The writers of that epoch are unanimous in the expression of their homage. The characteristic feature of the Rambouillet circle was the intercourse, on terms of equality, of the aristocracy of rank, and the aristocracy of genius. There, for the first time, do we meet with a generous and adequate recognition of the dignity of letters. For fifty years the salons of the marquise were hospitably open to the wits, critics, scholars, and poets of Paris, beginning with iMalherbe and Racan, followed by that dis tinguished circle of beaux esprits who contributed so much to the formation of the French language and taste—Costar, Sarrazin, Conrad, Patru, Balzac, Segrais; Godeau, Voitnre, and Corneille; and closing with the generation who filled up the interregnum from Cor neille to Moliere, Scarron, Saint-Evremonil, Benserade, the due de La Roehefoucabld, etc. Many of the literary debuts of celebrated geniuses were made at the hotel de Rambouil let. Here Corneille read his first piece, Matte, and Armand du Plessis, afterward cardi nal Richelieu, sustained a These d'Amour, and Boileau preached one of his earliest ser mons. But the Hite' was almost as much renowned .for the brilliant and accomplished
women who frequented it, as for its crowd of professional litterateurs. The names of mademoiselle de Scullery, of mademoiselle Colignyafterward comtesse de Is Suze and of the marquise de Sable, who inspired the ilfaximes of La Rochefoucauld, are among the most distinguished of their time and country; but above them all, as conspicuous by her splendid beauty as by her faultless grace of manner, the center and idol of both sexes, shone the sister of the great Conde, and the heroine of the Fronde—the ducbesse de Longueville. The combined influence of so many different sorts of esprit exercised a profound and lasting influence on the literature and society of the 17th c., and is con sidered—rightly, as we think—to have developed quite a new art—that of lively, pol ished conversation, in which France has ever since taken the lead, and has thus placed itself socially in the front of European civilization. It has been customary to say that the Preeieuses Ridicules of AIoliere was aimed at the foibles of the Rambouillet coterie. But this notion has been shown to be entirely groundless. The Precieuses Ridicules was actually first performed at the hotel, and Alolii:re, in the preface to his Femmes &ranks, protests against the supposition that lie meant to reflect on a circle which he affirmed had every claim to respect. It appears from investigation, that grotesque imitations of the manners and style of the hotel had, in the course of years, become prevalent both in Paris and the provinces, and that it was these, and not their charming prototype, which were exposed to the satire of MoHere. Mute. de Reinholdllet died at Paris, Dec. 2, Roderer's ..1,Mnioire your servir !lisle/re de la Societe polie en France pendant is dis'.
&Vain° Sgcle; and Victor Cousin's Jeunesse de Mde. de Longuevale, Aide. de Sable, etc.